WNBA Storylines

July 10, 2004 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) News Release

7/10 – Seattle (10-6, 2nd in West) at Detroit (8-8, T4th in East) – 4 p.m. ET (ABC)

PRIOR MEETINGS First of two meetings.

PLAYER TRENDS Two of the top five scorers in the league – Seattle's Lauren Jackson (2nd, 20.1) and Detroit's Swin Cash (5th, 17.9) – and two of the top 10 rebounders – Jackson (8th, 7.1) and Detroit's Cheryl Ford (2nd, 9.9) will be on the floor today.

Ford dropped out of the top spot on the league's rebound chart this week as Sparks center Lisa Leslie now leads her by hundredths of a rebound – 9.947 to 9.923. After opening the season with five straight double-figure rebound games and averaging 14.2 boards per game, Ford has reached double-figures in rebounding in just three games since then, and is averaging just 7.3 rebounds over those eight games.

Jackson is trying to become just the second WNBA player to win back-to-back MVP Awards (Cynthia Cooper – 1997, 1998). In addition to ranking second in the league in scoring and eighth in rebounding, she is second in blocks (2.00) and is averaging a career-best 45.5 percent from beyond the arc (5th in the league).

The Two off-season additions to the Storm roster have made major contributions to the team in 2004 – Sheri Sam and Betty Lennox. Lennox is second on the team in scoring (12.6) and rebounding (5.5), while Sam is fourth on the team in scoring (10.3) and fourth in rebounding (4.7). The pair respectively ranks third (1.38) and first (1.50) on the team in steals.

Detroit's Ruth Riley continues to improve averaging a career-best 11.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.

Seattle point guard Sue Bird among the league leaders in three-point field goal percentage this year (13th at 39.1), and is also ranked 15th in the league in field goal percentage (45.3) and third in assists per game (5.6).

TEAM TRENDS The Storm has the most efficient offense in the league this season averaging 102.6 points per 100 possessions and the second most efficient defense allowing 92.5 points per 100 possessions. The Houston Comets of 1998, 1999 and 2000 are the only team to lead the league in both categories in the same year.

The Shock didn't lose their eighth game of the season last year until August 8. This year's eighth loss came on July 3.

Seattle has lost four of its last six games after winning six straight. Those four losses have come by 6, 5, 3 and 3 points.

Detroit lost four straight games before defeating the Houston Comets on Tuesday. Seven of the Shock's eight losses have come by eight points or less. In four of those eight losses, Detroit squandered double-digit leads.

KEY STATISTICS
Seattle Offensive Efficiency – 102.6, 1st Defensive Efficiency – 92.5, 2nd
Scoring Differential – +7.3, 1st Pace – 71.1, 5th
Reb Pct. – .529, 2nd Off. Reb. Pct. – .352, 3rd Def. Reb. Pct. – .707, T4th

Detroit Offensive Efficiency – 98.0, 4th Defensive Efficiency – 95.2, 7th
Scoring Differential – +2.0, 3rd Pace – 71.6, 4th
Reb Pct. – .517, 4th Off. Reb. Pct. – .351, 4th Def. Reb. Pct. – .683, T7th

7/10 – Washington (8-8, T4th in East) at Charlotte (9-7, T1st in East) – 6 p.m. ET (NBATV)

PRIOR MEETINGS Second of four meetings.
May 22 at Washington Sting 71, Mystics 68
http://www.wnba.com/games/20040522/CHAWAS/boxscore.html
http://www.wnba.com/games/20040522/CHAWAS/recap.html

PLAYER TRENDS Washington's Chamique Holdsclaw is trying to become just the third player in WNBA history to score 20 or more points in back-to-back seasons. Cynthia Cooper accomplished the feat in 1997-99 and Katie Smith duplicated the feat in 2000-01. Holdsclaw is leading the league averaging 21.3 points per game.

After going 2-for-4 from three-point range in her first two games, Washington rookie Alana Beard has missed 17 consecutive three-pointers.

Sting rookie Nicole Powell leads the WNBA in three-point field goal percentage connecting on 54.5 percent of her shots from beyond the arc. No rookie has finished in the top-10 in that category since Portland's Jackie Stiles finished sixth in 2001 (43.1).

Charlotte's Tammy Sutton-Brown and Charlotte Smith-Taylor rank third (50.0) and tenth (45.8) respectively in field goal percentage.

TEAM TRENDS The Sting has won seven of its last nine games and three of its last four to move into a tie for first place in the East. Opponents are averagein 58.2 points per game during that nine game stretch and 57.5 points during the past four games.

Charlotte is tied for third in the WNBA in field goal percentage connecting on 42.9 percent of its attempts, and fourth in defensive field goal percentage permitting opponents to connect on 40.5 percent of their attempts.

Washington plays at the second fastest pace in the league (72.6 possessions oer 40 minutes) while Charlotte plays at the slowest (62.2).

The Mystics commit the second fewest turnovers per game in the league (12.3) while the Sting forces the fewest turnovers per game (12.2). Both would be WNBA records should they maintain those low figures.

KEY STATISTICS
Washington Offensive Efficiency – 94.2, 9th Defensive Efficiency – 95.4, 8th
Scoring Differential – - 1.6, 9th Pace – 72.6, 2nd
Reb Pct. – .489, 9th Off. Reb. Pct. – .272, 11th Def. Reb. Pct. – .707, T4th

Charlotte Offensive Efficiency – 95.6, 6th Defensive Efficiency – 94.9, 5th
Scoring Differential – - 0.4, 8th Pace – 62.2, 13th
Reb Pct. – .473, 11th Off. Reb. Pct. – .285, 8th Def. Reb. Pct. – .661, 12th













7/10 – Los Angeles (13-6, 1st in West) at Houston (8-10, T4th in West) – 9 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

PRIOR MEETINGS Second of three meetings.
June 5 at Houston Comets 75, Sparks 71
http://www.wnba.com/games/20040605/LASHOU/boxscore.html
http://www.wnba.com/games/20040605/LASHOU/recap.html

PLAYER TRENDS Sparks Head Coach Michael Cooper coaches his last game for the Sparks as he joins the NBA's Denver Nuggets as an assistant coach.

Houston's Tina Thompson missed the Comets past seven games, but returns to the floor today. Prior to her injury she ranked second in the WNBA in scoring (20.6) and minutes played (37.5). Teammate Sheryl Swoopes currently ranks seventh in the league in scoring (15.9) and second in minutes per game (37.2).

Comets point guard Sheila Lambert is enjoying her best WNBA season averaging career-highs in scoring (5.9), assists (2.4), field goal percentage (50.6) and three-point field goal percentage (40.0).

Sparks point guard Nikki Teasley is threatening to unseat Sacramento point guard Ticha Penicheiro's stranglehold on the top spot on the league's assist-per game charts. Penicheiro has led the league in assists per game in each of her six seasons in the WNBA, but Teasley is leading the league in 2004 at 6.0 per game.

Sparks' center Lisa Leslie is averaging 10.8 rebounds over her last 16 games and is now hundredths of a rebound in front of Detroit's Cheryl Ford for the league lead in rebounds (9.9). She also is leading the W in blocked shots (2.63), threatening to end San Antonio's Margo Dydek's six-year stranglehold on that title.

TEAM TRENDS The Sparks have won their last five games and 10 of their last 12. After allowing 75.3 points per game during the first seven games of the season, Los Angeles had held the opposition to 66.9 points per game over the past 12 games.

Houston leads the league in defensive efficiency allowing just 92.1 points per 100 possessions. They ranked second in the WNBA in 2003 (94.1), first in 2002 (88.4), third in 2001 (92.4), first in 2000 (91.0), first in 1999 (92.4), first in 1998 (88.3) and third in 1997 (90.5).

Los Angeles (40.1) and Houston (40.4) ranks second and third respectively in opponent field goal percentage.

The Sparks are a prefect 5-0 in games decided by three points or less.

The Comets have lost three straight and six of its last eight games. They have averaged just 59.9 points per game over that eight game stretch while giving up 65.3.

KEY STATISTICS
Los Angeles Offensive Efficiency – 95.5, 7th Defensive Efficiency – 93.1, 4th
Scoring Differential – +2.1, 2nd Pace – 73.1, 1st
Reb Pct. – .510, 5th Off. Reb. Pct. – .310, 7th Def. Reb. Pct. – .710, T2nd

Houston Offensive Efficiency – 89.7, 12th Defensive Efficiency – 92.1, 1st
Scoring Differential – - 1.9, 10th Pace – 68.1, 9th
Reb Pct. – .478, 10th Off. Reb. Pct. – .265, 13th Def. Reb. Pct. – .691, 6th





EXPLANATION OF STATISTICS

OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY – Points Scored and Allowed per 100 Possessions
Points Per Game and Points Allowed Per Game can be greatly influenced by the pace at which a team plays leading to inaccurate representations of team's strengths and weaknesses. Using Points Scored Per 100 Possessions (Offensive Efficiency), or conversely, Points Allowed Per 100 Possessions (Defensive Efficiency), takes the pace at which a team plays out of the equation, illuminating which teams are the most efficient at using their offensive and defensive possessions.

Points Per 100 Possessions is used rather than Points Per Possession because it has more of a traditional Points Per Game look to it.

PACE – Possessions Per 40 Minutes
Different teams play at different paces whether it is the run-and-gun style of Bill Laimbeer's Detroit Shock, the more methodical pace that has characterized many of the recent Charlotte Sting teams, or somewhere in between.

Beginning with the 2004 WNBA Season, official Possessions Per 40 Minutes statistics are available. The per-40-minutes version of the statistic is used as opposed to the per-game version to eliminate the additional possessions that are accumulated in overtime games.

OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE REBOUND PERCENTAGE
Offensive Rebound Percentage is defined by the following formula . . .

TmOReb / ( TmOReb + OppDReb )

Defensive Rebound Percentage is defined by the following formula . . .

TmDReb / ( TmDReb + OppOReb )

Using a percentage, rather than total number of rebounds is a much more effective way to determine which teams are winning the rebound battle.

The reason for this is simple. A team can only get a rebound if somebody misses a shot. Here is an example to illustrate that point.

Team A misses 100 shots vs. Team B. They grab 35 of those possible offensive rebounds. Team B, on the other hand, not only is a great shooting team, but they grab all 25 of their missed shots vs. Team A.

Ranking Team A and Team B by total offensive rebounds would give us the following leader-board.

Team A 35 Team B 25

Team B, despite the fact that they grabbed every single available rebound, would be ranked behind Team A. If we rank the teams by Offensive Rebound Percentage, however, we get the following . . .

Team B 1.000 Team A .350

And Team B assumes its rightful place at the top of the list.

REBOUND PERCENTAGE
Rebound Percentage is determined by averaging Offensive Rebound Percentage and Defensive Rebound Percentage



WNBA Efficiency Rankings

Offensive Efficiency
Team OER (Lg. Avg. - 94.9)
Seattle 102.6
Phoenix 98.9
Indiana 98.4
Detroit 98.0
Connecticut 95.7
Charlotte 95.6
Los Angeles 95.5
Sacramento 95.5
Washington 94.2
New York 90.1
San Antonio 89.8
Houston 89.7
Minnesota 89.1
Defensive Efficiency
Team DER (Lg. Avg. - 94.9)
Houston 92.1
Seattle 92.5
Minnesota 92.9
Los Angeles 93.1
Charlotte 94.9
New York 95.0
Detroit 95.2
Washington 95.4
Sacramento 95.4
Connecticut 95.8
Phoenix 96.2
Indiana 96.8
San Antonio 96.9

WNBA Pace Rankings (Possessions Per 40 Minutes)

Team Poss/40Min (Lg. Avg. - 69.2)
Los Angeles 73.1
Washington 72.6
Connecticut 71.6
Detroit 71.6
Seattle 71.1
Minnesota 69.5
New York 69.4
Sacramento 68.9
Houston 68.1
San Antonio 67.5
Phoenix 67.5
Indiana 66.2
Charlotte 62.2

Women's National Basketball Association Stories from July 10, 2004

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